If this is to be done right, the auto-converts shouldn't be ranked at all.
First of all, those autoconverts wouldn't pass the ranking process if they were submitted like mania maps. Many maps gots notes mapped to stuff that mania maps normally wouldn't. The long note's release are not correctly timed. And no matter the map, you'll never have something layering multiple tracks which is pretty much the essence of multi key games like this. These maps were converted from a 1k source and the patterns processed by a semi-controlled randomization.
With autoconverts, speed is the ONLY difficulty factor. You will never find difficult patterns. "Difficult patterns" are patterns that would still be difficult when slowed down because of
how the notes are placed. I would agree to a certain extent with the people that mentioned that the people that play autoconverts
exclusively aren't true mania players. The whole difficulty ladder in all similar rhythm games is learning and recognizing different patterns after extended play, even the standard mode. But the maps converted from there are stripped from the clever patterns they once had and become a useless junk with single-dimension difficulty.
Imagine converting a mania map to standard, and having circles timed with the notes (or chords) with randomized placement, yeah. Someone who never played standard would think "what's wrong with that?". But I'm pretty sure every standard player who read that just cringed. That's how it is for mania ACs.
There is no reason at all these should be
ranked. They can be there for a larger song library, but there is no sense in having stuff that doesn't accurately determine a player's skill play part in the ranking system. We got mania maps for that and that's all we need.
To everyone who doesn't understand what I'm saying look at this.
http://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/146615 and scroll down to the pattern repository. Now try and find autos that feature anything but beginner patterns. All those "omg so hard" autos are just
fast beginner and maybe novice level patterns. Keep in mind that this is a just a fraction of "common" patterns. Harder maps all feature unique stuff to make them memorable.
(I apologize for the the self-promotion, but I honestly don't know of a better repository.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enough saying what already known, I'm gonna introduce a couple other points here.
People are saying that maybe there isn't enough mania maps to run the ranking system. Well truth is there's more than enough. There is currently more ranked mania than any DJmax games, any IIDX machine, (I'm assuming that goes for DDR too), than any Rock Band or Guitar Hero games (excluding DLC) and mania's playerbase is smaller than any of those games. Having those 30'000+ (diffs) ranked autos was waaaaay too much anyways. People with no skill could accumulate PP by going no life and playing every single one of them.
And we could also think about the mappers, what motivation can they have to make maps when the majority of players are playing autos? Their map will just get lost and unappreciated. And what about modding? The playerbase playing autos have a bunch of songs to play and the idea of helping getting more maps ranked doesn't even cross their minds. I'm pretty sure unranking the autos will not only motivate mappers to try and rank more maps, but also spark interest within the mania playerbase to help as well. A well needed kick start.
I personally believe unranking the autos is the best possible move, lets forget those atrocities ever happened and start fresh.
-- About PPv2It's nice and all that ppv2 gives huge priority to mania maps, but honestly it's still useless if easy/normal are still giving more pp than hard/insane simply because there's more ranked plays.
What if the pp system weighed the songs the total unique players ranked on all difficulties, and then weighing that again per diff on the mapset?